Britney Spears’ Father Jamie Spears Files to End Her Conservatorship

James “Jamie” Spears, Britney Spears’ father, has filed a petition to end his daughter’s conservatorship after more than a decade in charge of it, as TMZ and Variety note. Pitchfork has contacted representatives for Britney and Jamie Spears for comment.

Jamie Spears’ attorney Vivian Thoreen offered an explanation for the petition in the filing:

Ms. Spears has told this Court that she wants control of her life back without the safety rails of a conservatorship. She wants to be able to make decisions regarding her own medical care, deciding when, where and how often to get therapy. She wants to control the money she has made from her career and spend it without supervision or oversight. She wants to be able to get married and have a baby, if she so chooses. In short, she wants to live her life as she chooses without the constraints of a conservator or court proceeding.

As Mr. Spears has said again and again, all he wants is what is best for his daughter. If Ms. Spears wants to terminate the conservatorship and believes that she can handle her own life, Mr. Spears believes that she should get that chance.

In a statement to Rolling Stone, Britney Spears’ attorney Mathew S. Rosengart said that Jamie Spears’ new filing “represents a massive legal victory for Britney Spears, as well as vindication.” He added:

Having exposed his misconduct and improper plan to hold his daughter hostage by trying to extract a multi-million-dollar settlement, Mr. Spears has now effectively surrendered. There is no settlement. To the extent Mr. Spears believes he can try to avoid accountability and justice, including sitting for a sworn deposition and answering other discovery under oath, he is incorrect and our investigation into financial mismanagement and other issues will continue.

On August 12, Jamie Spears announced that he would step down from the arrangement. A later report by NBC clarified that the change would not immediately take effect; on August 30, Spears’ lawyer filed another brief demanding that Jamie Spears resign by September 29. Spears had filed to remove her father from the conservatorship, a post he’d held since it was established in 2008, at the end of July.

In the months leading up to Jamie Spears’ recusal, Britney Spears’ case mounted increasingly vocal public support. A report by The New Yorker corroborated Spears’ late-June testimony about the conditions of the conservatorship. Spears’ longtime manager and court-appointed lawyer both resigned in the wake of the hearing, citing a desire to abide by the singer’s wishes.

Read “Aaliyah, Britney, and the Commodification of an Artist’s Legacy” on the Pitch.